


the art of falling

by PaleRose



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, They're falling for each other your honor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29072118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleRose/pseuds/PaleRose
Summary: Falling and skateboarding go hand-in-hand. A character study in how Reki and Langa fall for skateboarding and each other.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 29
Kudos: 187





	the art of falling

It doesn’t take much for Langa to fall—he’s used to it by now. The concrete has ruined at least five pairs of jeans and made his knees red and bloody. Green, blue, and pale bandages cover his face. They’re accessories now that Langa has to keep in his backpack just in case. Girls ask him why his face is covered in them with wide eyes and nervous smiles and guys avoid him like he’s some sort of punk. 

When he was younger his father told him to let the fall happen. The mountain will lead you, so just let go and trust the fall. No matter how many times Langa fell snowboarding, he could always rely on the snow to cradle him—a cold, built-in safety net. All he needed to do was relax and let it happen. He’s heard of people getting injuries from falling on the slopes, but that’s because they didn’t trust the fall. They panic and swerve into a tree, or crash into a rocky bed. Break their bones and give up the sport for good because they can’t control their board. The fear becomes them and they can’t recover. Langa’s had some pretty bad falls, but they’ve never scared him. 

That’s probably why he doesn’t give up on skateboarding. He’s not afraid of the fall—it just hurts. _A lot_. Every time he rolls over with a groan, eyes squinting to look up at the sun that warms his body against the blacktop, it doesn’t hurt any less than the first time. There’s no muscle memory for crashing headfirst into a mailbox or just barely losing your board from beneath your feet built up. No way to trust that the ground will protect his body like the snow did. It’s brand new, scary, and yet, he’s weirdly addicted to the pain.

Reki calls him a masochist. A pain junkie, but Langa doesn’t see it that way. 

For every fall, he gets better. Langa is a quick learner and uses the instinct he’s gained from snowboarding to his advantage. 

_Trust the fall._

Langa is re-learning, slowly but surely. He’s lucky he’s got Reki to help him. His own personal cheerleader and a sherpa of the board who is there for Langa. Reki gives his all to everything—building custom boards, racing, being there for his friends (and even enemies), the list goes on. Langa admires that, how Reki is so willing to put himself out there for pretty much anyone. He’ll fall a hundred times over if it means helping out a friend. 

Reki also calls himself a masochist. 

“It takes one to know one! Once you taste the concrete, you can’t get enough,” he says with a brighter-than-the-sun smile to Langa as he pulls him up from off the ground, hands clasped tight. 

It’s true, Langa can’t get enough. He wants to feel the rush of zooming down a hill at nearly fifty kilometers per hour. He wants to command the board to follow him into the air with his feet alone. And he wants Reki to always be there to pick him up when he falls. When their hands touch, Langa swears every ache he feels in his body disappears. It gets focused into the fine point of their intertwined digits. All the heat, all the pain washed away—a built-in safety net that will always be there to bring him back up when he’s down. 

It makes sense that he falls for Reki just as easily as he falls for skateboarding. They go hand in hand. Falling while skating, _falling_ while skating—it’s all the same in the grand scheme of things. 

Just like how his body craves the rush of adrenaline he gets each time he steps on a skateboard, he craves the heat in his chest every time Reki holds his head. He has a hard time letting go when Reki pulls him to his feet and has half a mind to push him back down so they both tumble to the ground. He’ll hold Reki close and pepper his soft cheeks and neck with kisses. Beneath a cloudless sky with the sun warming their bodies against the blacktop—the pain from the fall won’t matter because they’ll have each other. 

Langa never does this, though.

Instead, he trusts the fall. He knows there will come a time when Reki will understand what his lingering touches and quiet glances mean. And when Reki does, he’ll be ready. 

* * *

The first time Reki held a skateboard, the grip tape gave him these tiny abrasions on the pads of his fingers. The roughness was unlike anything he ever felt before—coarser than a nail file, but not quite like sandpaper. When he set his foot down on the deck, the tape hugged the rubber of his shoe. He felt safe, protected. Like even if he were to fall a hundred times over, the grip tape would be there to keep him balanced. 

Keep him from falling.

He likes to think that he’s doing the same for Langa. Adding little customizations here and there to his board to prevent him from falling and hurting himself any more than he already is. Langa’s face is covered in bandages and bruises by now. Giving him a little extra armor against the cruel pavement is the least Reki can do. He cares about his friend and wants him to keep skating. 

It’s weird how easy it is for Reki to care about Langa. He’s the ultimate underdog—you want to see him win every race because of how unassuming and surface-level clueless he is. It’s kind of adorable in a not-weird way. Langa is talented and a natural. He takes what he knows from snowboarding and is quick to apply it to skating on unforgiving terrain. Dirt roads with rocks that will break your ankles and railings that will leave you bloodied if you so much as teeter in the wrong direction. 

Langa is always two steps ahead of where his opponent thinks he’ll be. Surprises are never in short supply when Langa races. More exciting than any blockbuster action movie, and more breathtaking than any work of art—watching his friend exceed all expectations makes Reki’s heart pound. 

Almost everything about Langa seems to make Reki’s heart pound.

Especially the moments when Langa gets air on his board. Reki swears he can see fresh, powdery snow trailing behind him. He always holds his breath when Langa soars into near perfect landings. There’s always a chance that this will be the time Langa will break a leg or get a concussion. He’ll be hurt so badly and never be able to skate again—and it’ll be because Reki’s board couldn’t protect him. But despite the fear, Reki trusts the tools he’s given Langa and above all else, he trusts his friend will be okay when he falls.

After all, falling and skateboarding go hand in hand. 

**Author's Note:**

> These boys make me so soft!!!!! Thank you sk8 the infinity for curing my haikyuu depression. Shout out to [slumber](https://twitter.com/slumberish) for giving this a once over and being one of the only moots I have who also is very much digging what these boys are putting down! 
> 
> Likes, kudos, and comments are always appreciated! Feel free to share [[this tweet]](https://twitter.com/palerosetweets/status/1355294294832275461?s=20) if you enjoyed what you read!


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